Guardian of the Forest
by FellStroke
Summary: He wasn't always the guardian of fun. Before all that, he was the guardian of the forest, and he had one job: keep everyone out. So what happens when someone gets in? 'What are you doing in my forest' "I was just-" '—Get out...' "Wha-" '—GET. OUT.' "But I just want to help!" 'I've heard that excuse before... and I'm not making the same mistake twice.'
1. Chapter 1: Into the Unknown

It was all too easy to lose one's self in the mist, and not just literally. The mist covered the sky, you see, and sometimes it got so thick that day looked like night. And it all just blended into each other from one day to the next. Time held no sway here, and the forest cared not of its passing.

But there was something different about today. Restless. He could smell it in the wind; feel it in the earth. Something's changed.

That's when he heard it, a fell voice carried on the breeze. Singing. It tugged at the corners of his cape beckoning him south where the border lay, the line he had drawn all those years ago.

"Why do you want me back there?" His voice, deep, adamant, yet still full of youth, could be heard despite the loud murmurings of the dark sea. "I know. I feel it too. I could barely make a flurry these past few…" He was going to say 'days', but again with the mist and all, "times."

He grew quiet as if he were listening to half a conversation only he could hear, "Arendelle? I want nothing to do with that evil place or the people that live there! The last time you told me to trust any of them, I wound up losing someone dear to me. What makes you think I'd listen to you now?"

Again there was that silence that stretched on, but somehow in some way was not empty. The breeze from before grew stronger, louder like it was arguing with him.

After a while, he relented, "Fine. But don't expect me to stay there long. Whatever you want to show me, it better be quick."

The boy with his trusty shepherd's staff began his leisurely stroll down towards the southern border.

* * *

It had been an age the last time he was here, yet the memories of that day clung on to him still new like freshly fallen snow; it didn't help with his patience. It was only at the wind's behest that he stood staring at the wall of mist waiting for something he did not yet know, and after a while longer, did not care, "This is a waste of time. I'm leaving-"

But stopped just as he was about to turn back; back to his grief and self-loathing.

It was faint, but he could almost feel that same pull that helped convince him to come back here in the first place. What was it? Why was he drawn to it so? He peered into the fog as if staring harder would somehow show him the answer. With a curious, almost enchanted look on his face, he approached the wall, and, when he was close enough, reached out to place a hand on it. Little did he know that on the other side…

* * *

Elsa placed her hand in the mist, and like a curtain, it drew apart to reveal a path. She felt her sister's hand squeeze tighter around hers.

"Promise we do this together," Anna told her.

"I promise," was Elsa's reply.

With that, her, Anna, Kristoff, Olaf, and Sven took their first steps into the unknown... and immediately got their first taste of magic that wasn't from Elsa.

"Woah! Hey, no pushing!"

"Okay, this is too fast. Too fast!"

The wind swirled around them, pushing them deeper into the mist. So strong was the gale that they stumbled, and in Elsa's case, her feet could barely keep up. It was only a matter of time before she- "Oof!"

Huh, funny. The ground seemed to be softer on this side of the mist, or so Elsa thought. That was when before she opened her eyes and was met with the bluest of blues she had ever seen in her entire life staring right back at her.

"Uh."

"Uh."

"Elsa, you okay?" Anna, only noticing then that Elsa still hadn't gotten up from her little tumble, asked in concern.

Elsa and the man she was currently astride turned their heads towards Anna with faces that looked like they'd just been caught doing something… inappropriate.

"Uh."

"Uh." They so eloquently reiterated, before looking back at each other then back at Anna then back at each other. It took Elsa two double-takes before her embarrassment told her to get off the poor fellow.

"Oh my goodness! I-I am *so* sorry!" Elsa scrambled to her feet and patted her dress down more out of nerves than to actually make herself presentable. "I didn't mean t- please forgive me."

The man, for the most part, didn't look too embarrassed, well, not as much as her at least, but instead was staring at her with the most curious expression, like he couldn't believe that she was even talking to him.

That was when she realized, 'Wait, a native! What luck!' All the questions she could ask him; their little enterprise was off to a good start! "So, do you, um, live around here?"

The man just kept staring at her. Maybe he didn't understand? Does he even speak Swedish?

"Elsa?" Came her sister's concerned tone again.

"Oh! Right, Anna, of course. Where are my manners?"

She giggled. Giggled! Anna was starting to get really creeped out now.

"I should introduce myself first. Hello, my name is Elsa-"

"Elsa."

"—Hold on Anna, let me just- and this is Anna my sister, and over there are Kristoff, Olaf, and Sv-"

"—Elsa! Who are you talking to?"

* * *

**This one's going to be a slow burn, guys.**

**Warning: spoilers for frozen 2 ahead!**


	2. Chapter 2: Queen and Guardian

Chapter 2: Queen and Guardian

"—Elsa! Who are you talking to?" Her shout finally made Elsa pay her attention, and she could see confusion and a bit of embarrassment in her eyes.

"What do you mean 'who am I talking to', Anna, don't be rude," she reprimanded before turning back towards the handsome gentleman. Wait, handsome? With a sheepish smile, she ignored the flush she was sure her face was now sporting, "I'm sorry about her; my sister's actually quite friendl- eep!"

With a bit more force than she intended, Anna grabbed Elsa's shoulders and turned her towards herself, "Elsa," her blue eyes stared intently into her sister's searching them for anything untoward and finding none, "there's no one there."

"W-What?" Her head jerked back as she looked behind her, and surely there still stood the man with silver hair, "What are you talking about? Of course, there is! Do you not see him?" Her voice laughed thinking it was a joke but turned nervous when she saw Anna's eyes flicker to the spot over her shoulder where she knew the stranger to be yet returned to her with an even more concerned expression. She looked at the others and saw them do the same. A cold pit fell into her stomach, "You don't see him…" She concluded in a whisper.

"Elsa-" She couldn't finish before her sister whirled around and escaped her grasp.

"Who are you?" No, the better question yet was, "*What* are you?" She stepped closer, but still, the man stared at her as if *she* were the mystery. She was sure that her face mirrored the expression. Why could she see him when the others could not? First the singing voice, and now this; was she going insane? She reached out slowly, oh so slowly, to touch his face…

Before he stopped her when his hand shot up to grab her wrist. She gasped in surprise at the firm grip, and for some odd reason, so did he.

He recovered from the shock way quicker than she did, "I could ask you the same thing."

His voice, she had never heard such a voice. Tenor, it was deep, gravelly, ancient, but at the same time, young, and gentle in a secretive, almost protective way. It shook her to her very bones, not unlike thunder would the ground. It was a moment before she found her voice again, "I-I am queen Elsa of Arendelle-"

Arendelle, the very word made him scowl, "—What are you doing in *my* forest?"

"Your?" Elsa could feel the rising tension, and before it got out of hand, the queen in her tried to defuse the situation as she normally would her queendom's many disputes, "No, I was just-"

But he didn't let her, "—Get out…" The man said explicitly as he turned to take his leave.

"What?" She asked in a bewildered voice.

"I said…" He suddenly spun on his heel before mightily slamming the end of his staff into the ground making the leaves flee from him as the wind picked up again, "GET. OUT!"

She and her entire party covered their faces from the wind that suddenly buffeted them, all the while, in her head raged a different kind of tempest. She saw the leaves, saw how they swirled around, but it was not chaos. They moved as if caught in a stew that followed the ladle spun by- her eyes, though squinted, landed on the white-haired man in astonished realization, and theirs locked in a heated stare; his full of malice, and hers full of wonder and desperate questions.

He spoke, but somehow the wind did not swallow up his voice. In fact, he looked unaffected by it all, his windswept hair barely being windswept, "Leave the way you came, and *never* come back. I won't ask a second time."

There was no stopping him from leaving. Though Elsa tried to, she could barely hear her own voice above the furious gale. But then, like blowing out a candle, it all stopped, leaving them all breathless.

How it was so loud just moments ago then, at the drop of a hat, being quieter than church service on a Wednesday was more than just a little spooky, and Anna made sure to say so, "What in the ever-loving cocoa was that?! First, you were talking to yourself," Anna began exaggerating with her arms, "then all of a sudden, WHOOSH! Shk shk shk, ahhh! Ow, a leaf flew into my eye! And then… nothing."

Anna's head turned slowly towards her sister, "Elsa… what was that? Was that you? That was you right?" She asked nervously.

Elsa turned to return her wide-eyed and disbelieving expression, "It wasn't."

"Oooh boy, here we go," Kristoff groaned at the familiar sense of trepidation he felt from their last adventure.

"Well, *obviously* it was the guy with the white hair.

Everyone turned to look several shades of flabbergasted at Olaf.

"What?" He smiled cluelessly as ever.

Elsa knelt down and grabbed Olaf's shoulders, or, at least, what substituted as his shoulders, "You saw him? You saw the white-haired man?"

"Uh, yi-eah," Olaf answered, but was starting to wonder why that was exactly news to anyone, "why? I don't get it.

So she wasn't going crazy! "Why didn't you say anything earlier?!"

"Well, I thought it was a rhetorical question. Not that I know what rhetorical means, mind you, but didn't *you* guys see'im?"

Anna and Kristoff looked at each other before shaking their heads.

"Huh," Olaf was stumped, "there's a fun fact for ya."

"I need to find him," Elsa, filled with a sudden determination, straightened up and began walking into the woods. "I have questions that need answering."


	3. Chapter 3: Not Alone

"Wait, wait, wait, Elsa. Let me just catch up a bit before we go storming off into the forest, okay?" Anna managed to stop Elsa mid-march, "Just tell me what is going on right now, 'cuz what happened back there, for me, was just a whole lot of crazy, and I love crazy!" Anna frowned, briefly remembering the last time someone had told her that. She shook her head free of the thought. "But even I have to admit that that was a bit *too* crazy."

Elsa did not look up. Her eyes remained glued to the forest floor as she stood there deep in thought.

Anna had to bow her head to see the look hidden behind her sister's bangs and what she saw worried her, "Elsa-"

"—I'm not the only one…" She whispered.

"What?"

Elsa lifted her head up, finally, and her eyes were both equal parts afraid… and hopeful. All this time she had thought that she was different; all this time she had thought that she never really belonged; all this time… all this time she'd been wrong, "There was a man."

"The guy with the white hair, right? You know, to make it easier on everyone, why don't we call him-"

"—Samantha! Let's call him Samantha," Olaf, in all exuberance, suggested.

"But that's a girl's-"

"Right!" Anna cut Kristoff off and winked at Olaf, "Samantha it is. Anywho, who *is* this Samantha? Describe!" She pointed a finger at Elsa as if to emphasize the command.

Elsa couldn't help but snicker at their antics. "Describe?" She asked hoping for clarification, but all she got was an encouraging nod, "well he-" a flash of memory showed her sharp features, tall, a chiselled jawline, strong nose, white hair of course, and finally, angry eyes so blue she'd thought she would drown in them.

"Elsa, your face is turning red."

"W-What?" Elsa was jerked back into reality and immediately covered her burning cheeks with her hands in hopes that her cold powers would subside the furious blush, "No, it's not." She was going for nonchalant, but ended up with awkward and obvious, "That's just my, uh, natural pigmentation."

"Your natural pigmentation is tomato?"

"It- a-anyway I don't remember. He was just there one moment and gone the next. So I-"

Olaf raised his hand, "Oo oo, I remember!"

"You do?" Anna asked while Elsa palmed her face and cursed her bad luck.

"Uhuh. Samantha had sharp features — rather dashing, to be honest — tall, a chiselled jawline, strong nose, white hair of course, and finally, angry eyes so blue I THOUGHT I WOULD JUST DROWN IN THEM!"

Elsa groaned in despair as she gaped aghast at Olaf, 'What?!… But-but how? How did he even- Ugh, nooo, here it comes.'

"Mm, sounds dreamy," remarked Kristoff with a nod at Sven which the reindeer returned in agreement.

"Oooh~,"

'There it is,' Elsa lamented.

That was sound she made whenever she caught Elsa in the act like trying to sneak a quick cookie before dinner or that time she caught her reading one of her more *ahem* 'romantic' romance novels. It did not happen often, so Anna made sure to make the 'Oooh~' sound extra incriminating whenever the opportunity presented itself. "He does. Samantha really doooes sound dreamy, doesn't he?"

"Anna."

"Yes, dear sister o'mine?" Anna played innocent in a way that made it obvious that she was anything but, and knew it.

"Please?"

"What?" She giggled, her comedic facade beginning to chip.

"Pleeeaheahease, Anna…" Elsa begged her sister.

"Whahahaaat, Elsa?" She was chortling now, not even trying to hide the amusement in her voice anymore, "The tall, chiselled grey-fox not your type?"

"Anna!"

"Okay, okay," Anna just barely got her giggling back under control to ask, "but seriously though, who is he? Do you think he's the one who's been calling you here?"

'Unless he sang soprano and went about the forest belting out aaaAah for no apparent reason then, no, highly unlikely.' Elsa wrung her wrists, "I don't think so, especially not with the way he so *warmly* received us." She said sarcastically as her hand gestured around them.

"He did this? Well, that was rude! Why?"

Elsa's brows furled themselves in disappointment, "He doesn't want us here. He told us to leave."

"Not that we could anyways because, well, look," Kristoff shucked his arms towards Olaf who was currently running repeatedly into the mist and being thrown back by an invisible force.

"You guys gotta try this!" His giggles did little to lift everybody's spirits.

"All this time I thought I was the only one, and then I find him… Everything I've ever known about myself was just… thrown out the window."

Anna placed a hand on Elsa's arm feeling the turmoil underneath her sister's skin.

"I have to find him, Anna. I *have* to," she looked desperately at the princess.

"Elsa," her voice was soft and discerning, "are you sure you don't just wanna find him 'cuz he's hot?" But her words were not.

"Anna!" Sounding affronted, Elsa exclaimed.

If she was too busy being embarrassed then she had no time to be sad. Anna patted herself on the back, job well done, "Sorry! I promise. I promise that's my last one."

Elsa frowned at her sister, telling her with her eyes that, 'It better be.'

"Okay, let's go find this guy. Who knows, he might even know how to fix all this," Anna shrugged and began to walk.

Finally, it looked like her sister was being serious, "Right," she breathed out, relief all too evident in her voice.

Anna raised a rallying fist, "All right, men! Let's go find Elsa's boyfriend! Who's with me?!"

"AYE!" Everyone chorused.

Well, that went away quick.

"ANNA!"

* * *

He never really left.

"How could she see me? No one's ever seen me except…" His eyes narrowed at the group bellow. He needed to keep a close watch on these guys. They were up to trouble; he could feel it, 'Especially the blonde one.' There was something about her that… unsettled him.

So in the trees, he remained. He observed. A familiar sense of "excitement(?)" he hadn't felt in years churning within his chest. Hmmm, he could have fun with this. His grin told of an ancient mischief.

It was time he woke the forest up again.

* * *

**Thank you for the wonderful reviews! Glad you like it so far.**


	4. Chapter 4: Mischievous

There it was again, the voice.

Elsa whirled around in the direction she believed she heard the song and walked towards it.

"So where are we going really? I thought you said you that wanted to go find your guy, and now we're back to following the weird voice thing again."

"He's not *my* guy, Anna," Elsa replied tiredly as she trudged, "and I just have a feeling that following the voice might actually lead us to him."

Not entirely reassuring, but what other choice did they have? So, instead of worrying about the complete lack of an actual plan, Anna instead tried to distract herself with a game; it's called "Guess Who", short for guess-who-Elsa's-boyfriend-is-and-what-does-he-like. That's right, she wasn't good with names.

"Do you think he likes chocolate?"

"Huh?" Elsa blinked at the random question, her eyes still keeping to the path, "Do I think who likes chocolate?"

"Samantha."

Her jaw clenched. "Okay, enough! This is serious, Anna. We have to stay focused," Elsa reprimanded her sister with a stern glare.

"Focused on what, the trees? I'm bored. C'mon, Elsa, we're just walking. It's not like the path's going anywhere. Also, it isn't every day I find out my sister has a crush! Please, just let me have this."

At the pleading look on her sister's face, Elsa's guilt for dragging her along made her give in, "Uuughuhuh. Fine," but it was not without complaint.

It did not escape Anna, however, how her sister failed to deny her presuming her crush, "Yes! So, chocolate, do you think he likes'em?"

"I-I don't know."

"I don't know," she mimicked in an exaggeratedly boring tone, "What kind of answer is that? The game's called 'Guess Who', so you have to guess what he likes.'

"Then shouldn't the game be called 'Guess What?'" Elsa debated smugly.

"Don't get cute with me. Now guess."

"Ow, ugh, Anna," she flustered and groaned, "I-I don't know. Maybe? I mean, who doesn't like chocolate?"

"Hmmm… yes. Quite right. Quite right," Anna agreed fancily while rubbing her chin as if she had a goatee there. "Next question. Do you think, he'd make a good king?"

That was a huuuge jump from chocolate.

With all the blood that had been rushing to her face all morning, it was a wonder how she hadn't fainted yet, "Anna! Stop asking stupid questions!"

"But those are the best ones!" The princess smirked mischievously in reply before her expression went back to being excited, "Oo! Do you think that ~he'd like to build a snowmaaan?~" She sang her old song, all the while, batting her eyes at Elsa.

"Anna," she began to answer when Elsa realized that, speaking of, where was- "Anna… where's Olaf?"

* * *

Out of the five of them, he had to say, that the walking-talking snowman was, by far, his favourite. I mean, between the blonde, the red-head, the reindeer, and the guy who talked to said reindeer, well, it really was no contest.

So he followed him instead.

Also because, like the wolf when it came to stalking prey, always go for the one not paying attention, and, boy-o-boy, was this guy not paying attention, "He has good pipes on him though. I'm a fan." He made that face that had the underlip curve over the upper as if to say, 'huh, not bad.'

"This will all make sense when I am olderrr~"

But enough singing. Time for some screaming.

The wicked grin was wholly unbefitting his usually friendly face, "Wind, be a dear?"

At his request, the wind swirled and gathered leaves to dump on the unsuspecting snowman. To his surprise, however, the walking phenomenon just shrugged and kept on singing.

'Huh, tough little bugger.' He then knocked on the trunk of the tree he was standing in. The earth replied happy to please.

A sinkhole appeared in front of Olaf, "(Gasp), Samantha?" He peered into the yawning abyss and, again, merely shrugged when he saw nothing there. Unmoved.

'Woah, this guy,' his eyes widened. Usually, that would've been enough to make even a full-grown man brown his pants. Granted the snowman wasn't wearing any pants, but still. It looked like he had to stop pulling his punches, "Alright, tough guy, let's see how you like this," he said while cracking his knuckles.

The entire forest burst to life around Olaf. There was even fire! Safe to say he ran screaming.

"Yeah, that's right! Get out'ta my forest! Wind!"

Wind grew from a gentle zephyr to a fearsome tornado that carried away the snowman. Lucky, he saw the others coming his way. He directed the spiralling column in their direction and soon they were all swallowed up.

"Take them back to the border. Throw the snowman out along with the rest of the trash," he said but paused when Wind didn't do immediately what he told it to do, "Wind? You okay?"

The tornado suddenly spat everyone out as it devolved into a ball of raging white fury, all but one.

"Elsa!"

"Ugh!" The white-haired man clutched at his chest suddenly, 'What the?' The pull was so strong this time that he felt confused as well as breathless. When before it was like string tied around his lungs someone on the other end had been pulling, now it felt like that that someone decided to use rope instead. He could feel it drawing his entire being towards the sphere Wind had become. 'What's happening to me?' He almost fell out of the tree as he asked.

The sphere began to lower itself until it crashed to the ground revealing the blonde woman kneeling on snow-covered grass looking a little worse for wear.

"Snow?" came his breathless whisper. As she stood up with the aid of her sister, there he saw the queen in an entirely new light, "No… she can't be…" His eyes were thoroughly transfixed on her. Her every movement and utterance his sole focus, "Iduna?"

* * *

"Elsa, are you okay?!" Anna rushed towards her sister and helped her up.

Elsa waved away her worries despite still feeling the after-effects of being in a tornado, "I'm fine. I'm just-" the nauseous haze her vision took on began to clear, and once it did, she gasped at her surroundings.

"What?" Anna turned as well and she too gasped, "What are they?"

All around them stood sculptures of ice, and, mystified, they both approached the one that looked like a warhorse, "They look like statues," Elsa said, "frozen in time."

Right then Anna remembered a fun fact that Olaf once told them which at that time sounded ridiculous, but now not so much, "Olaf, what was that thing you said about water?"

"That if it's yellow or green, it's just not clean?"

"Ew! What? No. No, that thing, you know that thing? How you said water, um," Anna snapped her fingers repeatedly as if the metronomical noise helped her with remembering, "had memory? Yes, memory, that's it!"

"Oh yes, water does have memory-" which Olaf then painstakingly demonstrated using Sven as the example of water's "passing" and subsequent "remembering" of said passing. It wasn't any less gross than the first time he told them, honestly.

"Thanks, Olaf, for that," she tried not to sound too disgusted, but the little guy didn't seem to notice either way. "Anyway, what I'm getting at is, and this is just a theory, I believe that these," she caressed the horse's icy mane, "are memories, memories of the forest."

The theory sounded crazy, and it was, but after what they had seen so far, no one really had it in them to deny it.

At that, Elsa surveyed the other statues and her attention caught on two, in particular, the centrepieces of the garden, if you will, "Anna, look!" Elsa jogged towards what looked like two dancers mid dip. Her hands hovered over the statues; she couldn't believe her eyes!

Anna caught up with her sister. "Is that-?" She didn't even need to finish the question.

"Papa…"

Just then they heard rustling in the mist and immediately the group was on high alert. They didn't know what it was, but they could tell that they were many. Kristoff ran in front of the two women to protect them. It spoke of his chivalry how, despite knowing that one sister had ice powers and the other knocked Han's lights out with one punch, he still wanted to protect them. "Stay behind me," he told the ladies.

Back peddling, Anna bumped into something. She whipped around in fear, and was relieved that it was just a statue; more importantly, a statue with a sword, "Lem'me borrow that for a sec. Thaaank you."

"What are you going to do with that thing?!"

"I don't know! Something!" She hissed back at her love.

Her heart hammered in her rib cage. Her palms began to sweat. Whoever these guys were, she hoped they were ready to taste some salty snow.

Could she do this? Could she protect them? Elsa had not the time to dwell on her doubts. They were coming, and the mist felt like it was closing in around them. Closer. Closer… closer.

Closer…

From the trees, suddenly, a figure fell into a crouch right in front of her. Elsa watched in awe and barely contained elation as it rose to its full height, familiar staff in hand. She knew exactly who it was. It was him!

'Samantha...' Elsa shook her head, 'Great, now I'm saying it.' No. It was...

The white-haired man...

She would have smiled if the situation weren't so tense.

He held out his hands, and a strong wind blew the fog away as well as stumbling the people hiding behind it.

Amazing! But she could still hear movement from behind. Elsa spun around and mirrored his actions with her own power, ridding them of the rest of the mist.

"Wait! Those are Arendellian uniforms!" Anna's exclamation rang clear.

* * *

**I took some liberties with the script here because, as far as memory goes, this is about as much as I could remember from the one time I watched Frozen 2.**

**Thank you again for the reviews. They are not for naught as your comments actually make me write faster.**


	5. Chapter 5: Ghosts of the Past

Never mind the fur-wearing natives of the enchanted forest. Never mind the Arendellian guards equipped with decades-old uniforms. Because, as she stood there back to back the white-haired man, she only had eyes for him, evident in the way she looked over her shoulder to stare none too discreetly at the enigma.

There he was, her every contradiction.

The pair of magic-users let their arms drop to their sides when the situation began to wind down and all three sides of the conflict began to assess each other in the stillness.

"Who are you?"

Elsa heard the question but her attention could not be robbed. She faced the elderly woman who spoke the quandary only because the white-haired man was in that direction as well. Her heart skipped a beat as cliche as that sounded when his head turned ever so slightly to acknowledge her from over his shoulder and corner of his eyes. Their gazes met for the briefest of moments.

Giving one last cursory glance at the Northuldra and making sure that they weren't a threat, he turned all the way to look pointedly at the blonde queen. He deduced by the way her lips parted, sealed shut, only to part once more; how she was staring at him so intently with her absurdly expressive eyes that she wanted to speak with him instead of the person who actually asked her a question.

"What's-"

But, with a languid finger to his lips, he kept her from asking. Elsa could not have shut her mouth any quicker, and her teeth clacked painfully together with the motion of her jaw. She could barely register the ache, however, as he kept her enthralled with his hand's honeyed slowness gesturing to both his baby-blue eyes then finishing by pointing at the weathered old woman.

She released a shaky breath like how she would on cold mornings, fogging small puffs of steam in front of her face. Saints above, the effect he had on her was simply... staggering, and she didn't even know his name. Who was he? She wanted to find out so desperately, that was until her senses caught up with her brain and gave it a good shove. Only then did she grasp the gesture. If no one could see him except her then everybody would think she'd gone insane if she just started talking to him all of a sudden. He knew this and wanted her to wait until they were alone.

That way, he was like her very own little secret; she blushed when the errant thought betrayed her. Oh, the travesty! The scandal! This- This wasn't like her at all — wholly unbecoming; tart! Why it stood against the very silhouette of the queen she tried all her life to cast...

...but at that moment, she couldn't find it in herself to care. Not even a little bit.

In all honesty, the idea of having him all to herself thrilled her in ways that baffled her to no end, and she surprised herself, even more, when she gave him her stuttered nod. Tart, indeed! If only her sister knew, oh, she should have a field day.

'Elsa! What are you doing?! The lady just asked you a question; stop it with the goo-goo eyes and ANSWER the woman!' The part of her that still retained some semblance of decorum screamed. She would have slapped herself just to get her mind right if that did not look stranger still, "I-I..."

Everyone stared at her expectantly and blinked in synchronized anticipation.

"I- uh. I'm- my name is- ah..." Suddenly finding herself in the situation, surrounded by a multitude of eyes, just saying her name had become too tedious a task, for truly.

Embarrassed, Anna came to her rescue, rushing in front of the dazed queen and hurrying to fill in the dead air with a fake smile and nervous laugh, "She's Elsa! Haha. Yeah, her name's Elsa. *Ahem* and I'm Anna, her sister. Helluuu..." She wiggled her fingers at the crowd in the most awkward wave while the subtle stink-eye she'd pointed behind her at her older sister asked the blonde, 'What gives?'

"Y-Yes," Elsa withered at her sister's scary look, 'Alright, that's quite enough of that,' she reprimanded herself and breathed in deeply to finally settle her nerves. The next time she spoke it was with the practiced ease and grace of her crown. She cleared her throat, "Greetings, all, and well met. I am Elsa Briar Ádelair, firstborn of house Ádelair, queen of Arendelle," her eyes stealing glances at the white-haired man the entire time.

Gasps were heard all around.

"Ádelair? You're... You're Agnarr's kids?"

* * *

Though gruff they all were at first, their tones changed once they'd found out that, not only were they the daughters of prince Agnarr, but of the waiting-chieftess Iduna as well. The thought of such a union and how it was not only a possibility but was an actual reality made even the Northuldra and old Arendellian guard tolerate each other.

They were brought to their little village and there a tale of the past, of lies and betrayal, was told.

Elsa was honored that they found her trustworthy enough to share such history with her. It was all very informative and answered a lot of the questions she had about her parents. She would have loved to know more, but the white-haired man lingering, never straying from her peripheral was highly distracting, so distracting in fact that the better part of her evening was spent craning her neck, making sure the white-haired man did not wander off without her knowing when she should really be paying attention to the conversation at hand.

She almost panicked when he actually went and did wander off; it was only because of the look he gave her before he left the camp that kept her from bolting up and rushing after him, sanity be damned. His gaze, although a bit frigid, had been reassuring; it told her that once she'd finished talking to everyone '...come find me.'

Knowing that he was out there waiting for her lit a fire of anticipation in her mind that burned her with the utmost curiosity. It was with a reluctant rear-end that she sat back down from her about-to-leave position.

"I-I'm sorry. Could you repeat that?" She asked her companion, Honey... marry? Or was it maren rather? She failed to recall at the moment, and it looked like the bewildered Northuldra woman noticed her distractedness.

"What's over there?" Honeymaren asked the queen.

Caught not paying attention, "Huh, what?" Elsa was only able to blurt as she returned her wide-eyed focus back to the conversation. How obvious was she being, she worried.

"You keep looking behind you."

*Very*, apparently, "I am?"

Honeymaren let out a good-natured chuckle, "Yes. Yes, you are."

"Oh no, i-it's nothing." Her companion narrowed her eyes at her in suspicion; Elsa began to fidget. Suddenly, the brunette's expression changed from suspicion to utter realization.

Honeymaren looked from either side of her as if she were afraid that someone had been listening in on them. Cupping her hand over her mouth, the brunette whispered to the queen a question that stole her breath.

"You see him, don't you?"

"What?!" Elsa scream-whispered, not believing how the girl was able to make that jump in logic and hitting the nail on the head, "No, I don't! I-I mean, I have no idea whatever it is you are referring to, Honeymarry."

"Aaand that's not how you answer that question if you want to be convincing," Honeymaren smirked and it scared Elsa how much like her sister she looked, "and it's Honeymaren, by the way." From teasing, her tone returned to being serious before repeating the question, "Well, do you?"

"Do what?"

"See *him*?"

"See who?" Why was she still playing dumb when it was obviously not working?

"See the-" Honeymaren stopped herself from raising her voice in exasperation and tried again more softly, "See the spirit of the forest."

Elsa could tell that her new Northuldra friend was getting short with her, and she understood why, but Elsa was still hesitant to let her know what she knew. Hearing something about a spirit, however, made her think of the white-haired man. Could she be talking about him perhaps? What did she know about the mystery that her sister summarily dubbed Samantha? In the end, her need to know overrode her being cautious, and she whispered as quietly as her voice would allow, "Yes..."

Elsa expected a whole slew of reactions, all not very positive, but relief had not been one of them.

"So he's still here after all this time," Honeymaren spoke to herself as if she could scarcely believe what was just told her.

When it settled that she would not be ridiculed as some crazy person for what she admitted to, the questions came to Elsa too quickly that she forgot to feel relieved, "What do you mean? Who is he? And based on what you just said, why does it seem like that only I could see him?"

Honeymaren lifted her stupefied stare off the ground and looked Elsa in the eyes without really seeing. Then she blinked and her pupils refocused themselves. The brunette had to shake her head of the haze that clouded her mind before she could answer the queen, "I should probably start from the beginning."

Barely containing her excitement, Elsa could only nod about knowing more.

She took a breath to prepare then began the story passed down her people for generations, "Legends tell of a boy who fell out of the sky... and into the depths of the dark sea. Too weak to swim its treacherous waters, he would have drowned... if not for the fifth spirit. She saved him, and in gratitude, the boy swore to help look over her forest. For years he did just that, protect the woods and all that lived in it, including my people, the Northuldra."

"Throughout the history of my tribe, the boy often guided us through the perils of the forbidden forest and taught us the ways of the land. He was one of the reasons, if not *the* reason why we are who we are now. All this he did only for our friendship. Eventually, he became our totem... our guardian. Our most trusted friend..."

Enraptured, Elsa hung off her every word, the thirst for knowledge she felt ebbing the more the story unfolded before her mind's eye. So focused was she on Honeymaren that it was hard to miss the sadness that gradually took her friend's words like a heavy blanket of snow.

"...Then your people came," there was no anger or accusation in the sound of her voice, only sadness, "and you know how *that* story went." Honeymaren snickered only there was no humor there, "What was left out of the story was the fury felt that day, the fury of the forest spirit. He was the one who gathered the other four elementals and put a stop to the pointless fighting. He was the one who drew the veil you see before you now..."

Elsa took the time to look all around her at the fog that hid the tops of the trees and was awed now that she knew who put it there.

"...and he was the one who severed our ties to the forest. We've never seen him since. Now here we live like blind men in a place we no longer understand."

"What happened to him?"

"Nobody knows. Some say that in his anger he abandoned us. Others say that he'd died along with the fifth spirit. All theories, of course... one thing's for certain, though, without him, my people lost their way."

Elsa let her eyes fall back on Honeymaren and could not help but feel sad herself. She didn't know what to say. 'Sorry for what my ancestors did and how they took your home' sounded insincere, not because it wasn't true, but because the guilt she felt didn't even belong to her; she hadn't been there when it all happened. She did nothing wrong, but just being related to the people that caused all this still made her feel responsible somehow.

"I-"

"—Please find him." With pleading eyes she looked up at Elsa from where she sat hunched over and hands clutching each other as if she were praying. "If you're really telling the truth and you really can see him, please... please tell the spirit that... we miss him."

How could she say no?

Elsa stood, determination straitening her spine before giving the girl a single nod.

"Thank you, your majesty."

"Elsa, please, and thank you for the lovely conversation." She corrected with a gentle smile, before walking off to do what was asked of her.

* * *

**Sorry if I took a while to write this. I was waiting for the hd release of the movie because I could barely remember it at this point, but in the end, I was like, "Aw fudge it. I'll just slap on 'loosely based off' and write my own damn script."**

**Took some inspiration from Jack's origin story in the "Guardians of Childhood" books by William Joyce. Hope you likey.**


	6. Chapter 6: Blunt

Only when the light from the torches no longer warmed her skin did the steel of moments past melt into a puddle of molten goo which then settled in the pit of her stomach, churning her innards with anxiety. Elsa gingerly pressed her hand against her abdomen as if to settle the sea of lava she felt sloshing within.

What was going on with her? This trepidation she felt boggled her and confused. She was only to meet a boy; nothing to worry herself overmuch.

But she did worry overmuch.

'Such a curious word _overmuch_. It's like saying _much over_ but backwards and spelt as one word instead of two. It's more efficient in a way, but then it beggars the question, why use _much over_ at all then? Wouldn't it be much simpler to simply- oh no,' She groaned to herself as her hands went to massaged her temples, 'I'm doing it again, aren't I?'

If it wasn't obvious already, Elsa tended to let her mind run away from her whenever she felt nervous.

Oh, curse her social skills, her confidence and lack thereof when faced with the gruffer of the genders! At that moment she realized that, aside from Kristoff and the male delegates she was so used to speaking with, had she never really met with a boy her age to simply... be. As is the demands of her birthright. See now where that got her, awkward as all hell.

'I wonder what it would've been like if I were never to have become queen? What would I be doing? Oh! What if I were a baker? I would wake up early every morning to ready the dough and warm the oven — Mmm, so cosy. Ah, and cakes! All I'll ever bake are cakes, chocolate ones. How Anna would love that! Hehe-' "Oof!"

She rubbed her poor nose and chided herself. She really ought to be more attentive. How many times today had she bumped into somethi-

Her eyes lifted and it was him... well, his back, but still. Suddenly, all her previous musings were replaced by a thick white slate of nothing, her mind, literally, drawing a blank.

You see? Awkward.

* * *

He breathed in slow, steady, superfluously; the expanding of his lungs more a way to keep the time than to keep him alive. Immortal. Decades past and decades more to come, he felt not an iota of happiness with the prospect. Why would he when living no longer felt like being alive? Then, suddenly, stimuli.

He and the moon had been engaging in one of their many heated discussions — not — when he felt her enter the clearing. He did not know how, but he did. He felt her every step; felt every breath she took into her lungs so keenly as if they were his own. For a moment he had to remind himself that he didn't breathe as humans do.

He did not turn; did not avert his gaze. Instead, he let her walk until...

"—Oof!"

*Then* he turned, and he was a glacier; calm, cool, and indifferent. He fixed an unimpressed look on the young queen, "You like walking into me, don't you?"

With eyes as big as hers, Elsa surprised herself with how long she had stared. It was a good few seconds before she caught herself and let out the most uncomfortable sounding laugh he had probably ever heard, "Ah- hahahahaha, yeah." Her eyes bulged and threatened to pop out of her skull, "I-uh-mean NO!" Elsa quickly stepped back, realizing how she could feel his breath and that she was probably standing too close. "No, I do *not* like walking into you!" Wincing at how harsh that sounded, she (*probably* too firmly) amended, "I mean, n-not that there's anything wrong with you! You're fine, more than fine! Guh- It was just rather dark, y-you see, and-and- Ugh. My apologies, good sir; I am *not* myself today. I was simply..." In her mad scramble for smart-sounding words, she made the terrible mistake of looking straight into his eyes. Her voice cut short; the breath in her lungs, stolen. Forget sounding smart, she'd settle for words, *any* words! "I was... just..." She swallowed and hoped dearly it wasn't too audible. In her head, she whimpered 'mercy' as her own blue eyes flickered between the two cerulean galaxies, "...distracted... Um. Hi?"

Was it just her or did that come out breathier than she'd intended?

"Hey," he mockingly mimicked her breathlessness with the one word, and, by the crook of his finger, carelessly and unceremoniously shut her parted jaw by lifting her chin, "yourself."

Needless to say, she blushed red-bordering-purple like an overripe strawberry.

And then there was quiet, long and oppressive.

Now that she was right there standing in front of him, she couldn't speak. All the questions she had before and not a one to ask? 'Why is this so hard?!' The silence stretched and it looked like it had become too much for one of them at least.

He coughed loudly, effectively bringing a sledgehammer to the wall of unspoken words, "Anyway, I'm sure you have a *lot* of questions, but is it okay if I ask a few first?" He asked none too sarcastically.

"O-Of course. Please," she urged, while in her head, 'Stop stuttering, for the love of Pete!' she begged the muscle in her mouth.

"So, Elsa-"

Two women were warring inside Elsa just then, one that went, "He knows my name!" and the other, "Of course he knows your name. He was there when you introduced yourself to *everyone*! Control thy self, goodness!" And Elsa was doing an excellent job muzzling these two women when she hmm-ed, letting him know (rather coolly, she might add) that, _yes, that is my name, and it sounds lovely on your lips_.

Not that last part, of course.

"—you want to fix the forest, is that right?"

"Yes. Yes, I do"

"You want," He sat on a tree stump, groaning as if he had been standing for quite a while, which was a yes, "to find out the truth of what happened here *years* before you were even born?"

All her fanciful ruminations ground to a halt when his tone gave her pause. She knew well what that sound was; she'd heard it plenty of times in her years of rule whenever she had to speak with someone decades older than herself, someone who spoke scepticism shaped by experience rather than fear. But he was so young, though, so how? "Yes." She said, but she sounded like she was asking rather than telling.

"And what makes you think that others haven't already tried?"

She hadn't thought of that, "I-"

"—Others older, wiser, having more conviction than yourself; people who have families waiting outside that wall?" He gestured south with a dismissive nod, "What makes you so vain that you believe you can do what they can not?"

Faced again with the realities of her endeavour, Elsa was rendered mute. What had she been doing all this time? Elsa had gone to that place for one thing, and one thing only: the salvation of her people, not go chasing after answers to her own existential quandaries. And had she been taking her mission seriously? No plan, no direction; what, did she expect to simply follow her gut's flights of fancy and expect everything would be fine and dandy like a grossly naive children's bedtime story? The weight of her guilt was a stone placed on her chest, and her countenance fell towards it. What *did* she have that made her think that she could do this?

"I asked you a question, *queen* Elsa."

Her name didn't sound so lovely on his lips anymore.

Scouring within herself an adequate response yet finding none, Elsa was hesitant just to raise her head. But raise it, she did, and what greeted her was a stare filled with a sort of pained anger, one that did not feel like it was for her (or at least, not all of it), but instead, reserved for someone else.

That did not stop her from feeling small, however, like a scolded child rather than a queen. She, Elsa, was reeling, and it had been a while since the last time anyone had made her feel like that. There were no words...

...but there was action.

Palm facing upwards, Elsa closed her eyes as she set her hand before her. She peered inside herself and sought out the light of her power, and when she had found it, tore just a sliver enough for her purpose. Every time, she always thought the light would burn her, but no; it was always cold, familiar, comforting. She took an image from the index of her mind and then-

"I have this."

—and willed it into being.

She wasn't exactly expecting a reaction, but everyone who had ever witnessed her power always had that sort of childlike wonder shining in their eyes. His were like cobalt steel that did not yield, did not waver. There was that slight hint of — she wasn't sure — longing there, perhaps, but that was it. Her hopes deflated before the words even left his mouth.

"And you think that *that* makes you special?"

That sentence, that one sentence *floored* Elsa; took her down to her very foundations. To have lived her life having her powers dictate a large portion, if not the entire length of it, then to hear someone say... such words, how was she even to react?

Her ice could freeze a kingdom, creat castles at a whim, bring winters fury if she so wished it, and here was a man who did not even blink in face of such things.

What *did* she have when the one thing she thought defined her meant nothing?

"I have nothing else..." Again, her eyes found her boots as her whisper hung aloft, helpless in the breeze.

A beat of silence for the moment passed until a sound so carefree, so out of place in the heavy atmosphere feathered over the lobes of her ears.

"I could work with that."

If words could shrug.

Elsa's head snapped back up at the utterly befuddling man, "W-What?"

"You're heading to Ahtohallan, right?"

"Yes, but how did you-"

"The trees told me. Anyway. I'm guessing you don't know how to get there." He did not even wait for her to reply, "Well, lucky you, I do, and I'll take you there on one condition."

Elsa felt nervous again, but this time different; like it was a gift offered to her the moment she needed it most. It was her chance to redeem herself.

And she would not fail whatever the condition may be, "And that condition is?"

She asked and he grinned at how, for the first time since he had met her, she spoke with a confidence that he almost mistook for a challenge. He stepped in close, and she didn't even flinch when he loomed over her, "You show me what *Elsa Briar Ádelair* has got."

* * *

**You know how, in the movie, Elsa is portrayed as this graceful goddess that just so happened to have these quirky, cute, human moments? Even when she's scared, it feels like she' always in control of the situation. ****Well, you ain't getting that here, folks.**

**Here it's the opposite. Elsa is a human being and all that it implies. Which means, forget about that Elsa that could freakin' sprint across water, again and again, climb coral reefs, wrestle a freakin' water horse into submission when realistically she wouldn't even have that kind of bodily strength given her line of work.**

**Here it is, I'm gonna say it. I didn't like Frozen 2. (Le gasp!) I hate how the movie felt rushed; how everything felt stuck together like some horrendous piece of papier-mâché; how the crisis didn't feel like a crisis and didn't create in me a sense of urgency; how everything, not excluding story progression, was triggered ****deus ex machina****; how questions like "where did Elsa's powers come from" were answered in the laziest, most unimaginative, most disjointed way. (You're telling me that Elsa's the fifth spirit? Okay, and this explains her ice powers... how? Barf. I'm guessing she could control all 4 elements and take away your bending powers too, right?)**

**Ugh, and the plot. They just had to go, HAD TO GO with the "finding yourself" route (could not, for the life of me, say that without a squeaky voice). Leave that shtick to Kung Fu Panda, thank you very much.**

**I mean, can I please get a Disney movie that does not have to have a moral of the story so scuffed up it makes my 5 year old pair of boots look brand new, but instead have substantial plot and character development beyond the, "Ooo, twist villain" weak sauce? Is that so much to ask, Disney?**

**"But Elsa did develop" a-hyuck. Shut thine mouth, plebian! What did Elsa from Frozen 2 have that the Elsa for the past few years did not already?**

**They could have gone so many ways with this, and yet chose the meh-good-enough. There are literally hundreds of better fanfiction than what they went with.**

**Frozen 2, unlike the first one, was a forgettable movie that the only redeeming thing about it was Kristoff's awesome, AWESOME solo.**

**Pardon, I do seem to have digressed. Mind not the rant. That's just me trying to find things to like about this movie after watching it for five times and realising that the count was actually dwindling the more I watched it.**

**Anywho, your thoughts?**

**Th****ank you all for the wonderful reviews! I'll have you know that I read through them every time I get stuck, for inspiration. It's because of you that I'm able to put this out now despite being busy with real-world stuff. So cheers to you me good mates!**


	7. Chapter 7: Jealous Much?

He'd instructed her to get some sleep because the journey, from there on out, wouldn't be as *mild* (as if a tornado swallowing her up hadn't been *mild* already).

She couldn't though.

After the day's events—amazing, had it really been only a day?—sleep would just not come to her. It was as if all the lights in her head had been lit to their absolute brightest, and each of them shone in the ever fluttering of her eyelashes. Everything felt like a blur until then when she finally was able to catch up with her thoughts. And one such thought that stood above all else was how the white-haired man had come to join her in her quest.

How would that even go, she wondered.

Should she tell Anna? Well, of course; Elsa withheld no more secrets from her sister, not after what secrets did to them both in the past. She was just worried. _Worried? Worried about what,_ you may ask. Did she still worry about Anna and what she would think of her if she told her?

No, nothing *too* drastic, but then again, somewhat. Elsa was just thinking of all the embarrassing things Anna could and *would* do whence she'd found out that Samantha would be travelling with them. The possibilities... made even Elsa shiver. She really didn't want to give him any more reason to dislike her, given the fact that he seemed to despise her enough as it is. If they were going to be travelling together then, for the sake of the mission, she had to have at least *some* semblance of professionalism with him.

Some of the lights behind her eyes dimmed at that thought that sleeping didn't feel too difficult a task anymore.

'He must really hate Arendellians for what we did,' she surmised but then thought better of it. Elsa tossed and turned in the cot she was *supposed* to be sleeping on. 'No that's not true,' She could hear it in the way he spoke about them earlier, 'he cares for my people.' Despite what had been done, he must have grown fond of the guards enough that even he wouldn't fault them wanting to see their families again. He actually sounded more sympathetic to their plight rather than vindictive.

But then that still left her with the question of why he was so cold towards her.

It shouldn't, but just the notion of him hating her hurt more than she would like to admit. Here was a person with abilities just like her; she knew it was foolish, but she couldn't help but expect that they'd have some sort of instant connection, but that would not be the case, it would seem. Despite feeling ecstatic meeting a person just like him, they were strangers to each other. It was understandable for him to have received her so harshly.

It was because they were strangers, right? It wasn't just her?

Then the troubled queen heard giggling, "Anna?" She asked, taking notice of the empty cot next to hers. With just the slightest pinch of worry, Elsa stood up to investigate her sister's whereabouts. The tension that tightened her shoulders went away, however, as soon as she parted the beaded curtains to her domicile and saw her sister talking to someone sitting on one of the rocky outcroppings that looked over the camp.

Worry gave way to intrigue, "Who on earth is she talking to this late?" Calculably, Elsa went to get a closer look. Their backs were towards her so they didn't see her approach, and as she got closer she could easily conclude that it was not Kristoff; the figure was far too slender to be the ice harvester, almost feminine in its silhouette. Then a moonbeam caught in the person's hair and she saw silver. Elsa's jaw dropped.

"So we were following this loooong piece of string, right, that wove aaaaaaall over Arendelle, and, along the way, there were these memento-type-things that momentized—not a real word, I know—the things we've been through together. Oh, oh! Not only that, but she also put together all my favourite stuff, like snacks!"

"You're sister sounds like she cares about you very much."

"Sh'yeah. You're telling me."

Elsa was frozen in morbid fascination of the conversation she'd never admit to having eavesdropped on. He sounded so gentle, not at all like the way he spoke to her but a few hours before. And although he was turned away from her, she could almost hear the smile in his voice; the mischief in his eyes.

The question: was it just her, was answered in that moment as clearly as the night sky she stood under. The answer? A disheartening _yup, just her_.

Seeing him and her sister talk so amiably, laughing at the smallest nonsensical thing, yet another emotion took hold of the queen, and it was the most boggling one of the night yet. It wasn't quite like anger, nor was it sadness. It was more a form of longing that mixed the two other emotions together to brew a concoction that burned and froze her at the same time.

Forgoing stealth, Elsa marched straight up to the pair. Why? An excellent question she asked her own person but did not care really for the answer at the moment.

"Anna."

Startled, Anna whirled around to see her sister wearing a stern but somehow unsure expression on her face. "Woah, Elsa, you're awake!" She smiled.

The line that was Elsa's lips thinned further as her eyes flickered between Anna and the white-haired man then finally settling on her sister meaningfully.

"Huh? Oh, right! Elsa, have you met-"

"—We've met."

Though her tone had been curt and without emotion, the way she stared down her new friend told her a different story. Anna passed it off as her sister just being overprotective again, but really she had nothing to be protective over.

Jack was just an absolute sweetheart!

"You have? Well then, that saves me the introduction," She chuckled. "Jack, you never told me you've met my sister. We've been talking about her, like, the whole night."

"Oh, so it's Jack?" Elsa interrupted his reply.

She kept her voice in that cool place between professional and indifferent, but even Anna knew that there was something more there. That something was starting to make her feel uncomfortable. "Uh, yeah. But," Anna gestured between the two with a finger, "didn't you say that you two have met already?"

"He never gave me his name," the queen deadpanned.

Anna could not miss the way her dear sister's azure gaze narrowed at Jack, almost as if she were accusing him using just her eyes. But Jack simply shrugged, oblivious to her frigid stare.

"You never asked."

Where Elsa had been professional, Jack was flippant, and Anna took a measured step back just so that she wouldn't be too much in the middle where her sister's stern gaze, now a glare, met Jack's challenging one, "Uuuh, should I leave?"

"Anna, a word," Abruptly, Elsa turned and walked a good few paces away.

The unfortunate princess was now beyond confused, "A word? Yeah. Um, yeah. We could- we could have some words, sure."

Elsa whirled around as soon as she heard her sister's footfalls stop just behind her, "Anna, do you know exactly who you were talking to back there?"

Anna glanced back, "Just Jack. Why?"

"And do you *know* who this Jack person is?"

Her shoulders bobbed in a shrug to demonstrate her lack of knowledge and hummed to that effect, "Should I?"

All Elsa had for a reply was to point her finger at her head.

"What?"

Elsa pointed again but that time with more emphasis.

"Yourrr... hair?"

"His hair."

"Whose hair?"

"*His* hair."

"Jack's hair?" Anna took a quick glance back at her friend.

"Yes."

"What about his hair?"

Elsa visibly shook with the effort not to groan out loud, "It is silver, Anna."

"OOooOoooo..."

Slowly, Elsa was nodding at her sister as if to coax out the epiphany moment from her beloved redhead-

"...And?

—only to be disappointed a second time. Elsa's eyes closed, face fell, and head bowed. A moment to breathe and compose herself was awarded the queen's as her hands formed small fists with which she used to mute clap in front of her forehead in barely controlled frustration. Unfurling her fingers slowly, she steepled them against her lips as if to pray but actually more to keep herself from screaming. "Anna..." She said her sister's name with infinite grace and patience, "that's Samantha."

*Gasp!*

"Whaaa-naw!" She glanced back again and Jack actually raised a brow at how many times she'd done a doubletake on him already. She gasped again, "It is! It *is* him!" She beamed as she turned back to face her sister, but at the same time, keeping her eyes on the mysterious boy, "Wait, but I can see him though, and oh does he look good! Not my bread and butter—a bit on the lanky side if you ask me—but you've got a good eye, sis, he fa-a-aiiiiine!"

"Anna, that's the same person that tried to blow us out of the forest!"

Anna paused as realization steadily trickled in like a loose tap into a metal bucket, "Heeey, you're right!" Anna looked back at Jack, but this time with a frown on her face.

First, she was smiling and the next looked like she wanted to hit him; Jack was getting a bit weirded out. The thought that he should probably leave crossed his mind.

"Hey, you!"

"Anna, what are you doing?!"

"I'm gonna give that punk a piece of my mind! Mess with my sister, will he!"

Elsa grabbed her sister's arm before she could storm off, "No, no! Wait, don't do that."

"But I thought you wanted me to!"

"No! I don't want you too!"

"If you didn't want me to then why the heck did you pull me all the way here for?!"

"I just- just ugh..." Elsa didn't know herself, that pesky, little, unnamed emotion making her thoughts all muddy and actions undignified, "All I'm saying is, don't hang around him too much. You know? Be careful."

"He should be the one that should be careful," Anna haughtily declared all the while giving Jack the stinkeye over her shoulder.

"Anna, please?"

Woah, woah, woah! What was that? Her queen did not beg. Anna focused on her sisters face more. In turn, Elsa avoided looking at her directly, her eyes never staying put on any one thing. 'No...' Anna thought before grabbing her sister's cheeks, smooshing them together and dragging her nearer for closer inspection, 'No!'

"Nooooo waaaay!" Anna's grin was not just ear-to-ear, it went past them.

"What?" Elsa was almost too afraid to ask.

"Elsa..." She staged whispered, "are you... jealous?"

That unnamed emotion, yeah, it had a name now.

"W-What? The queen all but squeaked. "N-No I am not!"

"Yes, you so totally am are, and this is your way of asking me to stay away from your boy!"

"He's not my- woh!" She tried to say before finding herself in a fierce hug.

"Oh, Elsa, you don't have to worry. I have Kristoff, remember? Besides," Anna pulled away with a sly gleam in her eyes, "if I *really* wanted to, I'd have had Jack eating out of the palms of my hands by now," she chuckled darkly, "you wouldn't stand a chance."

The blonde's eyes grew wide and blinked a few times as she looked at her red-haired counterpart, actually feeling a little threatened by her even with how vehemently she claimed to not be jealous.

"Kidding! I'm kidding! You should've seen your face," which Anna then preceded to mime with her own, "priceless," she wheezed as she wiped a stray tear from her eye.

"Not funny." Elsa deadpanned.

"It was to me- Anywho," Anna quickly injected before her sister could say anything, "the sky is no longer awake so I shouldn't be awake so I must bid you two adieu."

Elsa was watching her sister walk in the direction of their tent when something she had said tickled her curiosity. '_The sky isn't awake_ is her way of saying that the moon is not out, but it's the middle of the night...'

Where was the moon?

She gazed up where the moon should have been only to see the tops of a mountain she was so sure wasn't there moments ago. Then the mountain lifted its foot to bring down on her puny form.

"Watch out!"

* * *

**Apologies for the long wait, and even bigger apologies for my rant yester-chapter. It was just my thoughts escaping me, not that I still don't think those things. Thank you for receiving my rant so graciously, however. I hope it did not turn you off to read the rest of my story.**


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